At the beginning of the sixties, with
the Lafayette Class, the third generation of SSBNs (Strategic
Submarine, Ballistic, Missile, Nuclear) was laid down at the naval
shipyards on the east coast of the USA. Larger and quieter than their
predecessors, the 31 vessels of this type each carried 16 Polaris
intercontinental missiles with a range of approx. 4.000 km. And up to
three nuclear explosive devices. These 130 m. long vessels, with a
displacement dived of 8.250 tons, were powered by a Westinghouse
reactor and two steam turbines. This power plant that delivered
15.400 hp gave them a submerged speed of 30 knots down to a depth of
300 m. From the “Benjamin Franklin” (640) onwards, this vessels
received slight improvements to the design. For instance the power
plant was improved and instead of 145 men, they now had a crew of
168. A submarine had two crews, the “blue” and the “gold” who
alternated on 70 day tours of duty at sea.

In the mid seventies the Lafayettes
received a major refit. In addition to the essential reactor fuel,
new weapons guidance systems came aboard and the previous Polaris
missiles were upgraded to the poseidon C3 with 10 to 14 warheads each
width 40 Kt explosive force. The secondary armament still consisted
of four torpedo tubes for 12 wireguided Mk 48 torpedoes. Between
September 1978 and December 1982, 12 vessels were equipped with the
Trident C4. All the vessels of the Lafayette Class belonged to the
Atlantic Fleet, based at Kings Base, Georgia or Holy Loch, Scotland.